Oklahoma Firefighters' Pension & Retirement System, Oklahoma City, has filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., alleging the organization may have breached its fiduciary duties as part of the relaunch of its XFL professional football league.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 26 in Delaware Chancery Court, says the $2.8 billion pension fund has a "credible basis" to believe that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and other senior officers of the organization may have breached those duties by "usurping WWE's corporate opportunities and diverting resources from WWE to ... the XFL."
The pension fund has owned stock in WWE since 2018, the filings says.
The filing also says directors of WWE may have breached their fiduciary duties by "failing to conduct oversight to ensure that those corporate opportunities were not usurped, that those resources were not diverted and that McMahon did not engage in transactions that constitute a conflict of interest with WWE."
The XFL, owned by Mr. McMahon's Alpha Entertainment, played one season in 2001 before folding, and the league is scheduled to relaunch later this year.
Michael J. Barry, director, and Rebecca A. Musarra, senior counsel, at Grant & Eisenhofer, attorney for the plaintiff, could not be immediately reached for comment. WWE spokesman Matthew Altman was not immediately available to comment.
